Police still search for suspect in Williamson chase

Authorities are still searching for a 21-year-old armed robbery suspect who escaped from police after a police pursuit that started in Brentwood and ended in Columbia on Friday night.

Brandon Wayne Richards fled into a wooded area on foot in Columbia after the vehicle he was riding in pulled off Interstate 65 on Friday, according to a release from the Brentwood Police Department.

Authorities including Brentwood police, the Maury County Sheriff’s deputies and the Tennessee Highway Patrol searched the nearby area by helicopter and on foot but could not locate the suspect.

On Saturday, police said a 1994 Chevrolet truck was also reported stolen overnight yards away from where Richards was last seen. He is considered armed and dangerous.

Richards, who is wanted on armed robbery charges in Crenshaw County, Ala., was riding in a 2001 Oldsmobile Alero with Carolyn Nell Hall, 22, when they were pulled over for a traffic violation on I-65 in Brentwood, police said. As an officer was checking their prior records, the Alero fled from the scene south on I-65.

Brentwood police pursued the vehicle as it drove off and back onto I-65 until the car hit spike strips placed by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in Maury County.

The car then pulled off the highway to a fast food restaurant in Columbia, police said.

Hall was later taken into custody and charged with evading arrest, driving without a license and improper display of a license plate. She was taken to Williamson County Jail and was booked on $26,500 bond.

Police urge anyone with information about Richard or his location to contact Brentwood police at (615) 371-0160 or the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department at (615) 794-4000.